Goldsboro wiped off the map, Mount Olive takes damage and finds itself in a pickle, Depending on the winds, Raleigh, Wilmington, Fayetteville, Greensville or Rocky Mount could get more than 1000 rad of radiation per hour after the blast, which would be almost certain death for those exposed. Lesser but still strong levels or radiation could affect Norfolk, Greensboro, Charlotte and Myrtle Beach, again depending on the winds.

Because it would have been a groundblast, as opposed to an airblast, the fallout produced would be a lot higher and the immediate impact around ground zero would be greater, but the radius of blast and heat damage wouldn't be as big.

The book is Command and Control, by Eric Schlosser, who also wrote Fast Food Nation (and who also happens to be Robert Redford's son-in-law). The book is excellent, although absolutely terrifying. It centers on an incident in which a nuclear missile blew up in Arkansas in 1980 after a mechanic dropped a wrench and accidentally punctured the fuel tank; the warhead didn't go off, but the explosion still destroyed the missile site and killed two people. The book also relates a litany of near-miss accidents involving nuclear weapons during the Cold War era which makes it seem amazing any of us are alive now.

The two bombs are embedded about 10 miles north of my hometown. Knew they were dangerous, but the government is just now disclosing more details of how the weapons ended up where they did.

Had many more problems - i.e., needed EOD - in an overseas base where I was stationed as a young one back in the day. Lots of WWII weapons, too many of which had not discharged. Went to middle school next to a hill full of them, which is why they locked off access.

Goldsboro wiped off the map, Mount Olive takes damage and finds itself in a pickle, Depending on the winds, Raleigh, Wilmington, Fayetteville, Greensville or Rocky Mount could get more than 1000 rad of radiation per hour after the blast, which would be almost certain death for those exposed. Lesser but still strong levels or radiation could affect Norfolk, Greensboro, Charlotte and Myrtle Beach, again depending on the winds.

Because it would have been a groundblast, as opposed to an airblast, the fallout produced would be a lot higher and the immediate impact around ground zero would be greater, but the radius of blast and heat damage wouldn't be as big.

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Plus in 1961 we didn't have the virtual saturation radar, satellite and GPS coverage of the entire globe we have today, and nuclear bombs going off about 100 miles in from the Atlantic coast would have ignited instant suspicion they had been launched by Soviet missile subs just offshore (their submarine missile program was never as advanced as the U.S., but they did have some subs capable of launching missiles -- see the "Hotel II" class).

Given the itchy-trigger-finger nature of the U.S. brass at the moment, and JFK just getting settled into the White House, it's hard to imagine some of those hell-bent-for-leather types wouldn't have been storming into the Oval Office and shouting at him to nuke out Moscow just in case it had indeed been a surprise sub attack.